If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Welcome to the Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association Forum, we hope you like what you find here and we strongly encourage you to register for an account with us, especially if you are from Pennsylvania. Once registered you will have access to participate in our community. Thanks for visiting and we hope you become a regular!

RIT DYE / AK furniture

What the hell am I doing wrong? This shit doesn't do anything...

I stripped a set of AK furniture with acetone, sanded it. And started liberally applying RIT. It does nothing. It literally wipes right off leaving almost no color whatsoever. I was using the liquid RIT. The scarlet.

I had an extra set of beater furniture I wanted to mess with, and try to get a pretty bright red. NO such luck tonight.

Brushing it on got me the exact desired result. The second you wipe it down, it goes away.

After messing with it for about an hour and not getting anywhere I plunked it back into the acetone and wiped it down. Back to zero basically.

I'm about to take spray paint to it. Seriously wtf are you supposed to do with this shit? Why does it not stain the wood? I'm about to brush the shit on again, let it dry and then poly over it. But I know all I'll end up with is probably a huge mess.

Grr...

Maybe I'll go hunt for a bright red stain at Wally world or something. This was supposed to be my planned entertainment for the evening and it has been anything but.

Re: RIT DYE / AK furniture

Ok so I got irritated and went back for round 3. I applied about 4 coats of rit, wiping it down each time before it would dry, and reapplying. This took about 25 min. Then I gently wiped it off the last time trying to leave as much on there as I could without it crystalizing or getting hazy.

I took a small dab of poly and tried to see what it would look like if I poly'd directly over the RIT. It was close to what I wanted. So I grabbed my Minwax red mahogany stain I used last time and put a quick coat of that on. It's more brown than I wanted so I only left it on for about 5 minutes. It was a good idea because it punched the existing RIT into the wood. I should have tinted a natural stain or something with RIT. That would have worked I think. The RIT just won't go into the wood by itself. But putting it on and using a real stain will allow you get more of the RIT into the wood.

Good enough for tonight. It's drying now then I clear coat it tomorrow. Or maybe later. I have it in front of a heater so that should move that drying process along.

Some pix.

This is just multiple coats of RIT. This is what I wanted... *sigh* as a finished result...

This is what I ended up with after getting into the Mahogany. I already did a set in this stain and it is WAY redder than it came out last time. And I only used this stuff for like 5 minutes maybe.

Meh, it's just beater furniture anyway. I got it for $12. The top handguard has both a dent, and a cut mark in it too. I was going to cut grooves in it to match the whole way down. Then decided I wasn't getting creative since I can't even get "DYE" to function correctly tonight.

Re: RIT DYE / AK furniture

Maybe the pores of the wood are still too clogged with original shellac in that it will not "take" the RIT??

Try dousing the wood in cheap 92% Isop alcohol you can snag at any Wallmart pharmacy/health and beauty section. REALLY soak the wood. It should raise some fuzz as it dries - and hopefully open up the pores.

Another use for the alcohol; use it as the "carrier" for the RIT. Maybe 50/50 RIT and alcohol in a cup, use some cheap ass wide paintbrush and dollop it all over. Obviously it will run, so do it over a pain where you can re-use the drippages. This should allow the alcohol to cut thru the pores and "pull" the RIT with it.

That's what I used to do with my dried RIT (used alcohol vs water to mix) mixes or the Feibing's alcohol-based leather dyes - thin them with alcohol.

But lately I have done this:

I add alcohol-based dried RIT mixture directly to a small amount of cheap shellac (white or yellow, doesn't matter). Russians just shellaced the wood and allowed to dry and the stocks took on whatever tone the shellac was; from red - or yellow - or brown - or orange. They didn't care as the AKs and infantry were expendable.
You can simulate the Russian dip method by "painting" wood with multiple but VERY thin coats of this colored shellac. Allow to dry between coats else it takes forever for thick shellac to dry.

The alcohol thins it and allows it to enter the pores of the wood, but after a few coats it will leave a "skin" behind that you can allow to "wear" with use - just as the Soviets did.

Love it or hate it; the original wood of the old MAADIs, and Romy SARs and WUMs closely resembled the Soviet way - the who cares way.

Re: RIT DYE / AK furniture

As said the pores probably need to open /cleaned out.
Good turpintine may be better as I have hade good results and when I need to deep stain or Spar varnish I always cut the first couple of coats at least 50/50.

Re: RIT DYE / AK furniture

I actually kind of like the finish in the last picture. I like that lower handguard with the stubby grip.

Sounds weird, but I want to refinish my handguards on mine to make them look worse than it does. I want my AK to look like it was just dug up from the middle of the afgan desert..... ok that may be a bit much, but you get the idea

Re: RIT DYE / AK furniture

I am SO impatient. That is why I cannot do these kinds of things. I had it sitting in front of a cranking heater this whole time and already hit it with a super light coat of poly. It's bright ass red. About two shades darker, and three shades less red than just the RIT on the stock. But way more natural actually. It's actually more red than it appears in the photo's. My phone doesn't do reds very well. IDK why.

I win.

With a bright red container for color contrast;

I tried tinting the clear last time with RIT, and you have to have the dry stuff for that to work. I can only find the liquid kind. I did notice the brush I was putting the clear on with leave just the ever so slightest red tinge in my clear container. So I think the clear coat will end up with a tint as well as the wood this way too. Honestly IDC, desired result obtained.

Re: RIT DYE / AK furniture

Originally Posted by EvoRich

I actually kind of like the finish in the last picture. I like that lower handguard with the stubby grip.

Sounds weird, but I want to refinish my handguards on mine to make them look worse than it does. I want my AK to look like it was just dug up from the middle of the afgan desert..... ok that may be a bit much, but you get the idea

I cut them off. Trying to find the optimum length. This one is basically a Magpul AFG. Not much vertical left in it's VFG. The donkey dick gets in the way of mag changes. My last set I did was just a recontour job that left almost the entire length, but facilitated the ability to use 40rd mags.

While the whole furniture set looks great, it's not easy to change 40's. It's still meh on 30's too. So I whacked this one off with a sawzall. I like the AFG type hold and never use a VFG as a VFG anyway.

Before you eff yours up, buy a replacement set from CFS for like $12? They usually come pretty beat up. You could just, uh, put it on? And enjoy the beat to shit look any time you want. And switch back when you don't?

That's why I grabbed a few sets of furniture. To play around.

If you want a genuinely NICE set of furniture. Buy one from Apex gun parts. Theirs are $35. But NOT dinged up to shit and back.

Re: RIT DYE / AK furniture

Originally Posted by Asmodeus6

I cut them off. Trying to find the optimum length. This one is basically a Magpul AFG. Not much vertical left in it's VFG. The donkey dick gets in the way of mag changes. My last set I did was just a recontour job that left almost the entire length, but facilitated the ability to use 40rd mags.

While the whole furniture set looks great, it's not easy to change 40's. It's still meh on 30's too. So I whacked this one off with a sawzall. I like the AFG type hold and never use a VFG as a VFG anyway.

Before you eff yours up, buy a replacement set from CFS for like $12? They usually come pretty beat up. You could just, uh, put it on? And enjoy the beat to shit look any time you want. And switch back when you don't?

That's why I grabbed a few sets of furniture. To play around.

If you want a genuinely NICE set of furniture. Buy one from Apex gun parts. Theirs are $35. But NOT dinged up to shit and back.

Yeah, I've seen some places selling surplus grips.

This is a picture I'm stealing from another forum. This is not my picture. I'd like it like this, just not quite as shiny http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...SC_14751-1.jpg (damn I wish I bought an under folder) Just click this link. I don't want to whore up your thread with other pics. To see how mine currently looks, just click the link in my sig.

Re: RIT DYE / AK furniture

Yeah... that wood is in perfect shape. (yours) I wouldn't do ANYTHING to that. I'd get surp furniture to mess with.

That guys stuff would be easy to replicate. I was going to do that to the top handguard piece since it was already effed up. Got a big cut in it. And a dent... Blah. Whatev. Next set I'll do a destoyed version.

Gives me something to do, and I already have everything to do from a natural finish to bright red here.

What I really want is to do a set with "sunspots" on it. Think like black cherry / almost black around the edges fading into the brighter red, then a more yellow natural wood finish in the middle of the pieces.

I think I can do it with some creative sanding, dying process. Get it dark, sand center back to the lighter red, hit with RIT, sand the very "corona" of the piece. Then clear.